Monday, December 16, 2013

Google Glass wearer spotted at Target, have you seen any others in the area?

Google founder Sergey Brin in Google Glass

We may be getting high tech. This weekend I spotted a guy wearing a Google Glass, the newish wearable computer from the giant tech company, at the Target in DCUSA. It's the first time I've seen somebody wearing one in the city, and a pretty funny place to have one.

Basically you wear them like glasses and they have a little heads-up display. You can use them to run apps, take pictures, record video, get directions and video chat and even translate things, all by talking to it. Pretty neat. However, I'm not sure what the utility of wearing them at Target is, especially since the guy wearing them was also looking at his smartphone.

Apparently DC has a small but active user base for Google Glass, with some local developers working on software for them and a Meetup group as well. They aren't for sale to the general public yet, but you can sign up for a pair. Apparently only about 8,000 people have them right now, and they cost $1,500.